Thierry Frémaux to provide live commentary on restored films by Louis Lumière.

Lumiere

Cannes Film Festival general delegate Thierry Frémaux is to present a screening of Lumière! - and will provide live commentary himself - at the 6th Odessa International Film Festival (July 10-18).

The selection of 98 restored films, directed by movie pioneer Louis Lumière and his cameramen, will be screened internationally for the first time following its Cannes premiere.

It forms part of the line-up of the festival, which also announced the 12 films in the international competition and six features (and 18 shorts) in the national competition.

Two Ukrainian films will participate in both competitions.

OIFF president Viktoriya Tigipko said there had been a trend this year for submissions by female directors.

“During this year’s selection we have noticed an interesting trend: 30% of the entries submitted to the International Competition were from female directors,” said Tigipko.

“As a result, four out of the 12 films selected are directed by women, which makes one third of the program. We are pleased about this fact, as today the issue of female equality in the film industry often arises.

“Moreover, ten of the 24 films of the National Competition are also made by women.”

International Competition 

Many of the 12 narrative features selected for the OIFF International Competition have already been awarded top festival prizes. The films, representing 17 countries, will compete for the Grand Prix of the festival, which is awarded by the audience.

The jury will be headed by French filmmaker Jeanne Labrune. Other members of the Jury include Polish producer Dariusz Jablonsk, Serbian film director Srdjan Dragojevic, and Ukrainian documentary filmmaker Sergiy Bukovsky.

Two Ukrainian films are presented in both the National and International Competition:

  • The psychological thriller Captum, directed by Anatoliy Mateshko, which will have its world premiere at the OIFF 2015, and

  • Song of Songs by Ukrainian-German director Eva Neymann (also presented in the official competition of Karlovy Vary).

The other films selected for the International Competition are:

  • A drama about forbidden love The High Sun directed by Dalibor Matanić (Croatia). The film won Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at Cannes;

  • Evgeny Ruman’s (Israel) psychological thriller The Man in the Wall, which is set over the course of one night in an apartment in Tel Aviv;

  • The romantic melodrama Astragal directed by Brigitte Sy (France), starring actors Reda Kateb (A Prophet) and Leïla Bekhti (A Prophet, Paris, je t’aime);

  • The mystical road movie Atomic Heart by Ali Ahmadzadeh (Iran) that follows the story of two young girls on the streets of Tehran at night;

  • A debut film by young director Deniz Gamze Ergüven (Turkey) titled Mustang that was recognized at Cannes. It is a coming-of-age drama about rebellion against tradition;

  • Bridgend by Jeppe Rønde (Denmark), a film based on a series of mysterious youth suicides in the Welsh province of the same name. British actress Hannah Murray (Game of Thrones), plays the leading role;

  • A cinematic journey into the heart of the Amazon, Embrace of the Serpent, by Ciro Guerra (Colombia) starring Belgian actor Jan Bijvoet (Borgman, The Broken Circle Breakdown). The film won a C.I.C.A.E. Award at Cannes;

  • Submarine’s star Craig Roberts’ (UK) makes his directorial debut in Just Jim, starring Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild);

  • A modern interpretation of a classic tragedy H. by directorial duo Rania Attieh and Daniel Garcia (US). The film won a Kiehl’s Someone to Watch Award (Independent Spirit);

  • The retro-drama Angels of Revolution by Aleksey Fedorchenko, author of the festival hit Silent souls. The film won the Best Director prize at Kinotavr-2015.

National Competition

The National Competition program includes the following films:

  • Vagrich and the Black Square by Andrei Zagdansky, which details the life and work of the artist Vagrich Bahchanyan (the film was presented at OIFF 2014 Work in Progress section);

  • the film-parable The Flight of the Golden Fly by Ivan Kravchyshyn;

  • a documentary film about the everyday life of the Carpathian shepherds, Living Fire, by Ostap Kostyuk (also presented in the documentary film competition at the 50th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival), and

  • a film study of the eternal conflict between Hasidim and the residents of Uman - The Dybbuk. A Tale of Wandering Souls by Polish director Krzysztof Kopczyński.

Part of both comepetitions are Song of Songs by Eva Neymann and Captum by Anatoliy Mateshko.

The National Competition of short films will screen 18 films by young Ukrainian filmmakers, among them Snails by Cannes-winning director Maryna Vroda, Not Today by Khrystyna Syvolap; an animation titled Swan by Kharkiv music video director Oleksandr Danylenko; the screen adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s  short story White Elephants by Yana Antonets, a documentary Baramoshkin by Gayane Dzhiganyan and Michel Lades about cadets from the Kiev cadet corps.

Award-winning director Aleksey Fedorchenko (Russia), General Director of Forum des Images Laurence Herszberg (France), film producer Elena Ershova (Ukraine), and art-director of the European Film Festival Subtitle Richard Cook (Ireland) will be the jurors for the National Competition. 

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